Tidbits – January 2018

On one-issue candidates

“Never voting for a pro-abortion candidate makes you a one-issue voter, as never marrying a serial killer makes you a one-issue fiancé.”
– John Piper

We can’t count on any biblical literacy

It used to be, not so long ago, that even unbelievers knew a little bit about the Bible. Ours was a culture with Judeo-Christian roots so it only made sense, even for the most ardent atheist, to read and study the Bible.

I was struck by how much that has changed when a friend told me about an exchange she’d had with a co-worker. The co-worker knew this friend went to a nearby church, so when that church posted a text on the display in front of their building the co-worker knew just who to ask about it: “I don’t mean to be rude or anything, but that message your church put up, well, it just kind of seems racist. Why did you guys post that?”

What was the message? The church had posted Psalm 51:7b:

“Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.”

The phrase, “whiter than snow” caught the co-worker’s attention. In a world where the phrase “it was a matter of black and white” is being banned from some government departments due to its perceived racial insensitivity, it’s important to understand how even the Bible’s least offensive parts can be misconstrued and seen as offensive.

This friend was able to clarify things with her coworker. But what about all those who read this and didn’t have a friend to explain it? Is that a reason not to post such verses? Or is it a reason to go out into the community to be there for those who have questions and need answers?

Calvinism, Arminianism, and splitting the difference

“Some try to split the difference between Arminianism and Calvinism. They say something like, ‘I want to be 75% Calvinist and 25% Arminian. If they mean that literally, then they are 100% Arminian since giving any determinative place to human will is Arminian. Usually they mean that they want to stress the grace of God and human responsibility. If that is what they mean, then they can be 100% Calvinist for Calvinism does teach both that God’s grace is entirely the cause of salvation and that man is responsible before God to hear and heed the call to repentance and faith.”– W. Robert Godfrey

God’s sense of humor

In Roland Bainton’s The Reformation of the Sixteenth Century he shares the amusing story of how William Tyndale found someone to fund his translation work.

A curious tale is related of how he contrived to turn the devices of his foes to advantage. The Archbishop of Canterbury was buying up his translations for burning and commissioned a certain Packington to scour the continent for more. The man went straight to Tyndale himself and informed him that he had discovered a merchant who would clean out his stock.

“Who is this merchant?” said Tyndale.
“The bishop of London,” said Packington.

“Oh, that is because he will burn them,” said Tyndale.

“Yea, marry,” quoth Packington.

“I am the gladder,” said Tyndale, “for these two benefits will come of it: I shall get money from him for these books and bring myself out of debt, and the whole world shall cry out on the burning of God’s Word, and the overplus of the money shall make me more studious to correct the said New Testament, and so newly to imprint the same once again; and I trust the second will much better like you that ever did the first.”

And the account concludes: “And so forward went the bargain: the bishop had the books, Packington had the thanks, and Tyndale had the money.”